WINTER 46ERS UPDATE

CONTINUING THE CHALLENGE OF THE WINTER 46R

The 2019 winter season has been a wonderful experience for me to date, in my goal to summit all 46 peaks in the Adirondacks during the winter solstice, which is any time between December 21st and March 21st of any year.  Although there was lots of snow and ice this season, the amount of snowfall made it possible, with other factors, for me to hike the following mountains:
Rocky Peak Ridge, Marshall, Gothics, Armstrong, Haystack, Basin, Marcy, and Allen.  Each had their own uniqueness and challenge.

In January 2019, we had an extremely cold spell and the weekend I had planned with two other friends had to be altered given the amount of snow that would fall over Saturday evening, through the night and into Sunday.  We were to hike into Bradley Pond to camp Saturday night and Sunday hike Santanoni, Coucharaga and Panther, back to camp Sunday night, then Monday hike back out to the car.  With the amount of snow expected, we would have great difficulty breaking trail with a full pack and doing this for a distance of about 5 miles.  Our alternative plan proved to be the wiser choice.  It was a section of the Northville Placid Trail, starting from a section in Long Lake out to a lean-to about 2 miles in.  We all hopped in one vehicle, a truck, and drove from Lake Placid to Long Lake.  It was good we had the truck as traction driving up the side road covered in packed snow to the trailhead would have been an issue with a small vehicle.  Given there were 3 of us full loaded with our packs, water, food, extra amenities for the cold, there was enough weight in the truck.  We made a stop at the corner store that looks like a museum and there we warmed up, picked up a toboggan for the wood, which we would pull for 2 miles to the lean-to.  We were warned of extreme cold temperatures that weekend, which did go as low as -30C if not lower during the night.  We did well Saturday night sleeping in the lean-to.  It was a full moon so the night was lit up with sparkling flakes of snow as it gently floated down.  We woke up to a morning packed with fresh snow, so our day was to break trail back out to the truck.  Late in the afternoon as we made our way back to the lean-to, one friend crossed a frozen creek which was not totally frozen and broke through the ice, getting wet up to her hips.  Fortunately, we were near the lean-to so we quickly went into action, starting a fire, getting her clothes changed, heating up water for her to drink, set up the tent and got her nestled into the tent covered with blankets and sleeping bags. She slowly recovered and was fine by early morning.  There was a lot of snow that night, so once again we needed to break trail again as we made our way out.
We were thankful we had each other through this journey, which pulled us closer as friends.

In January of 2020, I attempted to summit Dix, backpacking in to the Bouquet lean-to for 2 nights.  I reached just below the junction exhausted from trying to break trail as the snow had drifted with more added and it became too difficult and I didn't want to return to the lean-to damp and in the dark.  In February of 2020, I was able to summit Redfield and Cliff as a 2-night backpack into a lean-to and next day hike both mountains returning to the lean-to for the night and out the following day. 

Hiking in the winter as oppose to summer brings an entire different look and challenge, and a new perspective on how to approach these beautiful Adirondack mountains.

So far here is a list of the mountains I summited in the winter:
Whiteface and Esther (solo)
Cascade and Porter with friend (Norm)
Street and Nye with friends (Sylvie and Veronica)
Colvin and Blake (solo)
Colden (solo)
Phelps with friend (Chrissy)
Wright with friend (Chrissy)
Algonquin, Boundary and Iroquois with friend (Ginette)
Sawteeth with friend (Sylvie)
Dial and Nippletop with friends (Chrissy and Julius)
Saddleback with friends (Glenna and Lorraine)
Seward and Seymour with friends (Michelle and Chrissy)
Donaldson and Emmons with friends (Michelle and Chrissy)
Giant (4x) and Rocky Peak Ridge (solo)
Tabletop with group
Upper Wolf Jaw and Lower Wolf Jaw with group
Big Slide with friend (Glenna)
Marshall (solo)
Gothics and Armstrong with friends (Christine and 2 others)
Allen with friend (Christine)
Marcy with friend (Chrissy)
Haystack and Basin (solo) to JBL then met 4 others at JBL who were doing the same.
Redfield and Cliff (solo) as a camping trip into Upper Works on Feb 17, 2020.
Macomb, South and East Dix (Carson and Grace peaks), and Hough on Mar 15, 2020.

Left to do:
Santanoni, Panther, Couchraga, Grey, Skylight, Dix.

Coming down from Haystack with Basin in the distance

Back from Haystack (back)

In the frosted air summit of Colden

Summit of Blake

Summit of Marshall

Summit of Marcy

Coming down from Marcy

Summit of Armstrong

Summit of Redfield

Summit of Cliff

A SUMMER OF DISAPPOINTMENT and MIRACLE

This summer was quite different from the other summers.  The trip plans for this season were cancelled due to my eye issue.  I had a retina detachment which required emergency surgery on July 15, 2019. It was a hot and humid summer so far in July of 2019.  We were getting excited for our upcoming trip to Europe. We were hiking the Mont Blanc Trek, finishing in Charmonix, France, followed by a train ride to Zermatt, Switzerland, to meet up with our friends for more little hikes around the Matterhorn. 

Everything was ready, airline tickets, the tour itself through G Adventures, our shuttle from Genova to Charmonix after our flight that day, then our train ticket to Zermatt after our trek and the apartment we were renting for our stay with our friends in Zermatt. I had also picked up the currency we needed in Euros and Francs, and finally the "Monarch" shuttle service to drive us from our home to Montreal airport.

We were so ready for this trip and so looking forward to it.  It was my ultimate hiking extravaganza I was so awaiting, hiking in the Alps, traversing three countries, France, Switzerland and Italy, then bonus was hiking around the Matterhorn. It was a dream coming true, until it happened .... The weekend of July 13th, I was hiking that day with a friend up Catamount Mountain in the Adirondacks. That morning was the first time I noticed some kind of shadow at the top of my left eye. The next day I was out hiking again, this time with our new neighbours on their first hike in the Adirondacks, up Mount Azure. That evening I once again saw this dark shadow at the top of my left eye. Anxiety welled up within me and my gut told me something was very wrong.  Next morning, about 7:00 am, I called Dr. Youssef's office to fit me in for an urgent eye check, which they were able to do at 1:00 pm that day.  My gut feeling was correct, my retina had detached and I required emergency surgery. I quickly texted a friend in Ottawa to stay overnight, told Cathy and ran out the door on my way to Ottawa to see Dr. Lee.  More stress was added to the mix when Dr. Lee told me this is a bad time for eye surgery as hospital cut backs did not make room for this and other surgeries took priority over mine.  Being in good health made it possible for day surgery, in and out in one afternoon.  Surgery went very well and painless.  It was the recovery that would be the challenge.  I had to lie on my side, keeping my eye fixed in one position for 24 hours over 14 days, allowing a total of 45 minutes per day to eat, drink, pee and brush my teeth.  My eye had a bubble in it to keep the eye steady as it healed and it was crucial to eye positioning that there was little to no movement of the eye, otherwise too much movement and shifting body positions would ruin the surgery and I would lose my eyesight.  The bubble fills the eye and then over time slowly drains allowing me to see a little more out of that eye.  There are different timing-bubbles depending on the severity of the situation.  My bubble lasted eight months due to the severe detachment, which also required a "scheral buckle" sewing the retina to the eye and lasering the rips, quite an amazing surgery, all done through the eye without any scarring around the eye.  It was brutal on my body, with aches and pains but there was no pain with my eye.  The pain pills were for my body not my eye. 

I could not have done this without Cathy's help, making meals, arranging the couch and television, and helping me wash.  Finally after six weeks, I could return to work and the bubble in my eye was diminishing. I returned to work on Monday, August 19, 2019, and the bubble finally disappeared in late September.  The miracle of great doctors enabled me to get back doing what I love to do.  In October, 2019, I went backpacking with friends in the Adirondacks.  Here's a photo of us at Indian Head, enjoying the beautiful fall colours.

MONTS-VALIN SNOWSHOEING Hut to Hut, March 21 to 25, 2019

 

 View towards St. Lawrence River from Lookout on Monts-Valin

A winter wonderful weekend in Monts-Valin Quebec, a national park near Saguenay, a 6-hour drive from Cornwall to Saguenay.  We left Thursday, stayed at the Auberge Cenre Ville in Saguenay, then the next day we drove a half hour to the park, registered, then headed off to the hut.  That morning it was raining but soon, as we ascended the rain turned to snow and eventually stopped.  We arrived at our first hut Ulysse.  We started the fire in the woodstove and settled into our little cabin for the night.  The hut could fit 8 people, 2 rooms with bunkbeds, 4 people in each room.  The hut was so well insulated, it was like a sauna and I was swetting through the night form the heat, by early morning I was cooling down but never had to cover up and slept in my underwear.  The next day we broke trail to our next hut Le Pionnier, about 4 km away.  There was so much drift of snow from the wind pushing the snow.  There was a sketchy section where the trail was buried and we traversed along a steep bank, sliding slightly on our snowshoes from the angle.  We arrived at Le Pionnier in plenty of time to settle in, have a late lunch, scout around and then finally go to bed early, shortly after sunset at 7:10pm.  Our next morning we were greeted with a blizzard, blowing snow.  We thought we would have to break trail again but fortunately, we were starting early enough that the accumulation of snow hadn't settled yet and the trail was still broken out from the group the day before of 15 people heading back to the centre.   We hiked back 8 km to the center and from there we drove to the same Auberge we stayed at on the way here.  We had a great drive home in the sunshine and were back in Cornwall by mid afternoon.

ANNAPURNA TREK NEPAL October 2018

 

The Annapurna Trek is another favourite alongside Everest Base Camp and Kilimanjaro.  This trek delivered breathtaking scenery, ever changing landscape, a wide range of temperatures, and meeting lots of local people and their children along the way.  We had a guide and two porters looking out for us making sure we had suitable accommodations and meals.  

We hiked over 100 km making our way from Khudi to Jomson, with a flight back to Pokhora and our wild bus ride back to Kathmandu on a crowded bus.  Our total trip was about three weeks, from landing in Kathmandu, our trek, then returning to Kathmandu to fly home.  Our first day we spent touring sites within Thamel, the downtown core of Kathmandu.  The day we started our trek, we boarded a local bus to travel a full day's journey to our trailhead at Khudi.  Along the way, the bus would stop to pick up people and there was no limit to the number that boarded, to a point where we were so squashed that viewing out the windows was minimal.  It was mid-afternoon when we started our hike to our first lodge for the night.  It was like a motel where the door opens out into the yard; turning right from our room, we walked a few yards to the dining lounge and next to it was the outhouse.  We enjoyed a good meal, then off to bed for a good night's sleep.  The next day we hiked to Syamje, a small village, and each day we made our way to another village, Tal, Timang, Chame, Lower Pisang.  While at Lower Pisang, were able to visit Upper Pisang for a great view of Lower Pisang and the surrounding mountains and visit a monastery high on a hill.  The next day we made our way to Manang where we would spend two nights, for acclimatizing.  We were now making our way to Tilicho Base Camp for the night.  Very early the next morning, the guide and myself made our way to Tilicho Lake and back to base camp where we met up with our group and continued on to Kangsar for the night.  The next day we hiked to Yak Karka and the following day to Thorong Phedi for a short night stay as the next morning at 4am we got up to have breakfast and start our hike across Thorang La the highest pass in Nepal, over 17,000 feet.  It was cold but we warmed up as the sun came up.  Everyone moved slowly as we made our way and finally we came to the pass, endowed with prayer flags.  We enjoyed a few moments there, taking pictures and looking around, then we continued down to Muktinath where we would spend the night.  Our legs at this point were very tired and the relief and excitement of having come this far made our sleep more sound.  The next day we would hiked through a wind storm of sand and dust towards Jomson where we spent our last night on the trek before flying out to Pokhara.  In Pokhara, we enjoyed touring around the city and enjoying the sights and celebrating our accomplishment.  The next day we boarded the bus to take us back to Kathmandu.  It was truly a spectacular journey.

Our lunch during our bus ride to Khudi

The start of our trek

Making our way higher to the next lodge

Arriving at Tal for the night

Our lodging at Timang

Our lodge at Chame

The kitchen at our lodge in Lower Pisang

The staircase to and from Upper Pisang

Our view along the way to Manang

Our rest day in Manang at our lodge

The Village of Manang down below

Footbridge along the route to Tilicho Lake Base Camp

Spectacular and scary trail along the route to base camp

At beautiful and calm Tilicho Lake elevation 16,000 feet

  

Making our way back to base camp from Tilicho Lake

Our gang at Thorong La Pass

Enjoying good food and beer in Pokhara

Our hotel room in Pokhara

One of many beautiful scenes in Pokhara